5. Flying

First Flight

For the first flight, no matter
what your skill level, it is advisable to limit the
control movements. A badly adjusted glider (wrong CG and
excess control surface movement) is totally unflyable. I
suggest that dual rates are used to progressively test
more active manoeuvres. Despite its simplicity, flying
the Pibros is not for the beginner, as it needs sharp
reflexes and good co-ordinated flying skills.

A computerised transmitter or one
with at least elevon mixing is essential for the Pibros.
A mechanical mixer might work, but that extra weight
would prove detrimental to flight characteristics.

Launching

A gentle throw is the key. The
Pibros has a very wide flight envelope and just an easy
launch is required. You can hold it by the wingtip and
just throw it forward, it stabilises almost immediately.
The key is NOT to input to much control and if you do
stall and drop a wing do NOT input opposite aileron, it
will just rotate to a stall on that side in the blink of
an eye. To recover from a dropped wing, just wait a
second or two and it will recover pretty much all by
itself, just a little bit of up elevator and you are on
your way.

Landing

To land the Pibros, all you need
to do is to point it towards a ground target and when you
are near your position just pull up. Hand catches are
really easy. With practise you can land on a dime or a
pound or a franc or Marc or Pasos or whatever you
local worthless small coin is.

Some Things to Try

Rapid Take Off - whatever
the wind conditions. Do a vertical dive at a target 1.5m
from the ground, pull up quickly and the glider will
break instantly and gently land (practice for precision).

Flying Backwards - slow
down slowly with the glider inverted and facing into the
wind, push progressively harder on the down elevator

Flat Spins -
slow down, apply full aileron and full up elevator
simultaneously.

Wind Conditions

The Pibros has been tested in
gusts of up to 70kph and has proven its ability despite
its low wing loading. In heavy winds (35Knots on the San
Francisco coast at Davenport) I have even ballasted the
Pibros with up to 250g of sheet steel ballast taped to
the underside of the wing exactly over the C of G. This
enabled it to penetrate the wind and fly exceptionally
well.

The central positioning of the
radio components and extremely low inertia of the craft
avoids any serious breakage through impact with the
ground. You can therefore get into aerial fights,
synchronised group flying etc without fear. We even
launch them stacked 4 or 5 high in a single group. Great
to try and figure out which one in yours !

Lifespan (!) ...

Experience has shown that the
lifespan of the Pibros is quite short because one is
tempted to try anything with it. Even though it can
withstand serious impact, damage is unavoidable during
some crashes. It is easily reparable on the ground with
some tape, but once the Pibros has been damaged beyond a
certain point, its flying prowess will taper off rapidly.